Early Childhood and School Based Services is a Center of Excellence that encompasses a variety of programs to meet the educational and development needs of families. Family literacy programs help children and parents improve reading, writing, and language skills, while teaching parents to become full partners in educating their children. Birth to Five provides a continuum of Early Head Start and Head Start and helps the whole family meet its goals. Early Learning Communities provide free training and resources to parents and caregivers so that they can prepare children to be “ready to learn” for school. The Community Schools initiative provides school-based services that focus on the whole child or youth and remove barriers to promote student success.

Services

Birth to Five provides free and high-quality preschool for children from birth to five years old. It also serves pregnant women. Birth to Five is designed to help the whole family succeed. The program consists of Early Head Start (0-3 years old), Head Start (4-5 years old), and home-based services.

Early Head Start provides early education services to families in the 48210 zip code with both home-based and center-based options for pregnant women and children 0-3.

English Language Learners operates at four elementary schools and offers English Language, parent education and parental participation in the child’s academic success in the child’s classroom.

Early Childhood Mental Health supports the healthy social and emotional development of children. Home based services for pregnant mothers and children 0-3 focus on developing a healthy attachment between parent and child. Home based services for children 4-6 focus on relational skills in the home and school environments.

Great Parents, Great Start (GPGS) serves families with children newborn to age four. Its goal is to promote the overall health and cognitive development of young children, and to provide parents instruction and access to services to give their children the best start in life.

Community Schools is a promising model that sees schools as neighborhood hubs to connect families to community-based programs and partnerships that can provide a wide range of services to students, parents and community residents. Many of the services are offered on-site. The model is being implemented in 21 DPS schools. Southwest Solutions is the lead partner in nine of these sites.

Developmental screenings:

Regular developmental screening in the early years makes sure that children are on track, and helps identify areas where additional support may be needed. Families with children between the ages of 2 months and 5 years of age residing in Wayne County can complete a FREE Ages and Stages (ASQ-3) developmental screening. It only takes a few minutes to complete and a developmental screening specialist will follow up with an individualized email to offer supports and resources. Click on the link below to get started now!

Our Early Childhood & Family Literacy main office is located at 7060 McGraw St., Detroit, MI 48210 (in the former rectory of St. Andrew Church). For more information about any of our programs and how to enroll, please contact us at 313.896.2800 or email us.

Results

Our Early Learning Communities (ELC) hubs registered 4799 participants and provided training and support to 2303 parents and childcare providers, impacting 7,250 children (birth to kindergarten) in 2013

Significant increase in parental participation among families served in our programs

More than 80% of the families we serve in our Family Literacy programs are Spanish-speaking. In southwest Detroit, more than 40% of the population is Latino. More than half of the Latino adults in southwest Detroit do not have a high school diploma, and the current dropout rate among Latino teens in southwest Detroit is the highest among all high school students in the city. Without a good education, the generational cycle of poverty and social alienation continues to turn. Our mission is to break this cycle. Our programs serve families at the lowest rungs of literacy and are designed to facilitate social mobility by enabling greater confidence and success in school, work, and the community.

Community Schools, which began in 21 DPS schools last year, is a promising model that has been making a difference in other urban school districts in the country. The model envisions schools as neighborhood hubs that connect families to community-based programs and partnerships to provide a wide range of services to students, parents and community residents. Southwest Solutions is a key partner at eight DPS Community Schools.